


Last appearance

by unacaritafeliz



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Also Justin disrespects Ollie and Wicky so damn much, Baby bi Justin Oluransi, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Meta, The amount of mental gymnastics you will need to follow this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23545642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unacaritafeliz/pseuds/unacaritafeliz
Summary: "Look," Johnson says, speeding up to match Ransom. "Haven't you ever felt like you're a secondary character in someone else's story? Specifically, have you ever felt like you're just a secondary character in Bitty's story?""No, " Ransom says, astounded by the caucasity.[Johnson lets Ransom in on a secret the readers have known for years, the comic ends in year four]
Relationships: Adam "Holster" Birkholtz/Justin "Ransom" Oluransi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 134





	Last appearance

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this about comic 4.24 before reading 4.24 based on my belief that the graduation comic would be the last appearance of the extended Samwell family.
> 
> I will be happy to be proven wrong.

Ransom isn't sure why, when the group assembled for the class of 2017 graduation, decides to move from the Haus to the lawn to watch the livestream of the ceremony, he opts to get the beer from the car alone.

Sure, Holster was in an important sounding conversation with Ford about some musical, but Ransom was literally surrounded by teammates, most of whom he hasn't caught up with in months. It would have been the perfect time to drag Nursey off to the car and find out what the fuck is actually happening between him and Dex right now, but something in Ransom's brain told him this was an activity to do by himself.

Which is why he's now walking from the weird campus parking lot near Lake Quad to Lake Quad itself, carrying a heavy cooler of Shitty's favourite pretentious and expensive beer and wishing he had another pair of hands to help him.

"Hey Rans!" a voice calls, and Ransom looks up to see a familiar blonde mop of hair running towards him. "Wait up!"

Ransom grins. He was hoping Johnson would come for Bitty's (and Ollie and Wicky's) graduation. He's always kind of liked Johnson. Sure, the dude is hella weird, but he's a goalie, it's what's expected of him. It's not like Chowder isn't just as weird. And, besides, Johnson is truly one of the nicest and most supportive bros Ransom's ever met, Ransom can put up with a little weirdness for him.

Besides, Johnson is always super fun.

Johnson catches up and throws an arm around Rans' shoulder in greeting. "Sorry, I'm late," he says. "I was stuck in plot convenience."

Ransom frowns. They're two sentences in and he's already having trouble keeping up with Johnson. "I'm sorry?" he asks. "You were stuck where?"

"Traffic!" Johnson says. "I was stuck in traffic. Anyway, how have you been, bro? It's been like fifteen comics since we last heard about you!'

"Yeah, it's been a while," Ransom says. It's not unusual for Johnson to count time in episodes of his favourite web-comic, Ransom just wishes Johnson would tell them what the comic was. Johnson's been obsessed for years, Ransom would like to check it out too. "I've been good! Holster and I are up for promotion at our company later this month. How about you?"

"Ah, cool, cool," Johnson says dismissively. "Speaking of Holster, you should kiss him today."

Ransom drops the cooler. Luckily, Johnson's goalie reflexes manage to catch it before it smashes into the ground and breaks all the good beers.

"What?" Ransom splutters, his cheeks burning. "Why would I kiss Holster?"

"Because you love him," Johnson says. Ransom opens his mouth to respond and Johnson holds one finger up. "Don't even deny it, bro. You love him and it's fucking adorable. 10/10 best romantic side plot in this damn thing."

Johnson lifts one of his perfect eyebrows at Ransom, as if daring him to contradict it. And the thing is Ransom can't. He is in love with Holster. He has been in love with Holster, for who knows how long. One day he just looked over at Holster ranting about some goddamn musical and never looked back.

He's never admitted it to anyone else before. But at least he knows Johnson won't tell anyone else about it.

"Okay," Ransom says, quietly. "That doesn't mean I can just kiss him."

"I know, because you're scared of fucking things up, right?" says Johnson. "It's a valid fear, and usually I wouldn't force you to do things before you were ready. The thing is though, your story is ending today."

Johnson says it so calmly, so matter of factly, that it takes a moment of Ransom's brain to actually process what the fuck he just said.

"Wait," Ransom says. "What?"

"I mean, not just yours," says Johnson's. "A whole lot of people's narratives are ending today. Hell, even Bitty and Jack will be done in two comics. And then, like, it's all over. Everything is done."

Somehow, Ransom understands even less.

"Look, I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about, brah," Ransom says, gently. "But I'm sure no one is dying or anything today. So I'll have time to, you know, tell him when I'm ready."

If he's ever ready. All evidence currently points to Ransom taking this to his grave.

"I never said anyone was dying!" Johnson protests. "Merely that their story was ending!"

"Yeah, okay," Ransom says. He tries to increase his pace surreptitiously. The sooner he gets back to the group the better. Maybe he can palm Johnson off on the Frogs for a bit. The world ending would be the kind of wild conversation the three of them would be into.

"Look," Johnson says, speeding up to match Ransom. "Haven't you ever felt like you're a secondary character in someone else's story? Specifically, have you ever felt like you're just a secondary character in Bitty's story?"

"No, " Ransom says, astounded by the caucasity.

"Come on, Rans," Johnson says. "Use that big brain of yours. Surely you've noticed everything is brighter when Bitty's around? Aren't your memories with Bitty so much more detailed than your memories without him?"

And when Johnson puts it like that...

... no, it's still fucking ridiculous.

"You know I'm right, Ransom," says Johnson. "Everything in our lives revolves around Bitty. This is his world, it's his story. And today our role in it is ending."

"Sorry, Johnson," says Ransom, shaking his head. "I think this theory is just a little too wild for me. I'll work on the thing with Holtzy though, I promise."

Yeah, he'll work on it, meaning he'll have another ten panic attacks about Holster not liking him back, or about Ransom realising he's not really into men like that, or either of them changing their minds in a few months, or any of the other scenarios that could lead to Holster never speaking to him again, before promptly wrapping his feelings up in a box to never be touched ever again.

"Fine," says Johnson. "But Rans, think about this. Even if your story doesn't end today, which it will, it will end someday, and don't you think you would want your story to end without Holster ever knowing how you feel? Without knowing yourself if it would've ever worked out between you?"

Ransom stops at the edge of the grass. He can see the Hockey team, and assorted hangers on (Falconers, volleyball girls, and even a few lax bros), sitting on their picnic blankets, taking up far too much space and being far too loud, as usual. Holsters sitting next to Tater, both at least two inches taller than everyone else there. It's funny, at one point, Ransom would've only been looking at Tater but now he pales in comparison to the man sitting next to him.

Maybe Johnson's right, maybe Holster is worth taking a chance on.

But Ransom's not ready.

It's fine though. The world isn't going to end today. Ransom has time.

"Look, the last frame; it's Jack and Bitty gazing at each other in the setting sun," Johnson says. It's beautiful and poetic, Ngozi's a fucking genius, but that's the last frame and it will happen shortly after Bitty comes over to greet the team after the ceremony. That's your last chance, Rans. After that it's too late."

Ransom doesn't even know how to begin processing that. He has a thousand and one questions, but he doesn't think Johnson has any of the answers.

"Who's Ngozi?" he asks.

Johnson smiles, and clasps Ransom on the shoulder, shoving the cooler back into Ransom's hands.

"The fandom's rooting for you, buddy," he says.

Ransom blinks and Johnson's already at the gone, already on the other side of the quad, grabbing a very unchill looking Nursey by the hand and tugging him up and away from the group.

Ransom frowns. If Johnson is doing what Ransom thinks he's doing, then he should have grabbed Dex. Nursey's already put in more than enough effort into trying to make that relationship work out.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ransom walks up to the hockey group and settles down between Lardo and Foxtrot, putting the cooler down and opening it. He picks out a beer and pops it open with Lardo's bottle opener, immediately taking a huge gulp. He both needs and deserves it, after the conversation he was just forced to have with his ex goalie.

He looks across the group at Holster, who's already watching him through narrow eyes. Holster nods his head over to where Johnson is rapidly talking at a very alarmed Nursey and lifts his eyebrows. Ransom shrugs. As good as their mental bond is, it's not good enough to begin to describe what the fuck just happened with Johnson.

Hell, words aren't even able to begin what just happened with Johnson.

Holster shrugs and turns back to the conversation he's having with Tater and Shitty, all three of their voices loud enough to carry over the whole group. Holster laughs, blue eyes sparkling and chiclet teeth on display, and Ransom can't help but smile at the sight.

There's no way this is Bitty's story. If anything, this is Holster's.

Ransom settles more comfortably on the grass, sipping his beer and letting himself get distracted by whatever dumb debate the underclassmen are having while they wait for the ceremony to start.

* * *

The crowd goes wild when Bitty's name is called, and they watch the tiny pixelated Bitty on the screen cross over to accept his award. Ransom's heart feels full to bursting. Bitty is the closest thing to a little brother Ransom has ever had and he could not be more proud of how much he has grown in the four years they've been friends.

He and Bitty have had a lot of good times at Samwell. Actually, now that he thinks about it, most of his good memories of Samwell seem to involve Bitty? It's like… all his memories involving Bitty are all illustrated in vibrant colour and clean line art by an amazing artist and storyteller, and all his other memories are merely written in words, in bits and pieces that don't even always fit together. Which, he acknowledges, is a very specific description, but that's how he feels.

And that's what Johnson was saying, wasn't it? That everything seemed to be more real when Bitty was around? It can't be true though. He's probably just more focused on Bitty because it's his (and Ollie and Wicky's) big day and so he just thinks his memories with Bitty are more vibrant. That has to be it. It can't be because he's a secondary character in a story about Bitty's college years that's ending today, because that would make no sense.

Except… it kind of makes sense.

All of Bitty's achievements and growth, his hockey championship, his fairytale romance with a NHL star… they all seem like the kind of things that would happen to a main character. Nothing like that has happened to anyone else Ransom knows. And if that's true, and it then follows everything Johnson said was true, then that means… 

Ransom turns to look at Holster, leaning against Tater's shoulder, scrolling idly through his phone. He allows himself to imagine, just for a moment, that the world does end today and he never told Holster how he felt. He imagines his life ending without ever knowing what it was like to kiss Holster when they weren't drunk and making bad decisions, without knowing what it was like to be with someone he loved as much as he loves Holster.

Holster smiles at something on his phone, his blue eyes twinkling and teeth on show and Ransom's heart squeezes. If there's even the smallest fraction of a chance that Johnson is right, he can't afford to be afraid anymore. He has to tell Holster before it's too late.

He glances up at the livestream. He could sneak off now, text Holster and meet by the Lake, have this conversation while the rest of the team are still focused on the livestream, but if he does then they'll probably miss seeing Ollie and Wicky graduate. Ransom kind of feels like he's disrespected the two of them enough during the last four years, the least he can do is see them get their degrees.

As soon as the ceremony is over, then. He's been waiting this long, he can wait until then.

* * *

The ceremony ends, but Ransom can't bring himself to move. He knows he has to do this, knows time is running out, but he keeps staring at Holster, too worried about what might happen to just go and talk to him.

The graduates emerge onto the lawn, and the Hockey group erupts into chaos when they spot Bitty and Jack (and behind them Ollie and Wicky) heading across to them. Shitty's first on his feet, running to tackle Bitty (Jack, after six years of knowing Shitty, is quick enough to step away) to the ground in a ferocious hug, sending Bitty's mortarboard flying. Soon enough there's a hoard of people around Bitty (and Ollie and Wicky), shouting and yelling and generally being more of a menace than they have any right to be.

And there's Holster, visible over the top of the crowd, smiling so wide and so proud and so beautiful. Their eyes meet from over the group, and something in Ransom settles.

Ransom takes a deep breath, and takes a step towards Holster.

Ollie (or is it Wicky?) gets down on one knee.

Wicky (or is it Ollie?) starts crying.

The team, although already loud and wild, get even more fired up.

Chowder also starts crying.

And Ransom loses sight of Holster.

It should be impossible, Holster's taller than mostly everyone else here, but somehow in the chaos that is the extended Samwell Men's Hockey team, Holster is nowhere to be found. Ransom steps forward, searching through the throng of people, breaking through to find Jack and Bitty.

They're managed to pull away from the group, and are standing together, wholly wrapped up in each other. The smiles on their faces are the biggest that Ransom has ever seen. The sun hits them at just the right angle, setting them on fire. They're beautiful, they're ethereal, they're almost the only thing in the world that matters.

Ransom can basically feel the world fading to black and the credits starting to roll. It feels like the world is ending, and Ransom's too late.

But then Chowder rushes over to tackle Bitty in the most intense hug Ransom's ever seen and the world fades back in; the lines slightly blurred and the colours less vibrant, but, still, no less real.

"So, I was kind of wrong," says Johnson, suddenly next to him.

Ransom turns to look at him. "Yeah," he says. "Of course you were. As if the world was going to end with Bitty graduating."

"I didn't say the world was ending," Johnson says. "I said your story was ending. And technically, your canon storyline ends with your last appearance, presumably at graduation. But, like, this is a fanwork so it can cross into the after-canon."

Ransom blinks. What, and he cannot stress this enough, the fuck is happening?

"You know, logically I should have always known this was a fanwork," says Johnson. "I mean, this isn't even close to what actually happens in 4.24. But if I had known this was fanwork, then this plot wouldn't have worked at all, and, you know, Rae's been trying to write this concept for three years, so I guess she's allowed to tweak the logic even though that's lazy and this story makes no sense anyw-"

Johnson immediately stops talking. It's almost as if someone has physically stopped the words from coming out of his mouth.

"Johnson," Ransom says. "Bro. What?"

"Doesn't matter," Johnson says. "Fan works are awesome, we're going to live forever, go meet Holster by that big tree on the Beach because that's where Rae wants to write the big finale. Bye Rans!"

Ransom blinks, and Johnson's gone.

"What the goddamn fuck?" Ransom mutters to himself.

He turns to look around the quad. Most of the team are still congregated around Ollie and Wicky (which holy shit, they're engaged! Ransom will have to congratulate them at some point) but Holster is still nowhere in sight. Curious, Ransom makes his way down to the lake, where, sure enough, Holster is leaning against the specified tree, looking out on the lake.

Ransom's heart skips a beat. He has to tell him.

"Hey," Ransom says, quietly. "Thought I'd find you down here."

Holster looks up. "Yeah," he says. "I don't know why, but something just told me that I was supposed to be down at the lake right now."

"Was it Johnson?" Ransom asks. "Because he's the one that told me to come and find you here."

Holster frowns. "You've been talking to Johnson a lot today," he says, sounding suspicious.

" _Johnson_ has been talking to _me_ ," Ransom defends. "He had some really crazy theory about, like, how the world ending today or some shit, and how he wanted me to do… some things… before that happened."

"The world ending?" Holster asks, one of his bushy, ungroomed, eyebrows lifted in confusion. "That's wild, even for Johnson. Who the fuck would even begin to believe something like that?"

Ransom can feel his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Dude!" Holster yells, because Ransom's never been able to hide anything from him. "What the fuck? The world ending?"

"Fuck you, Holster," Ransom says, shoving Holster's shoulder. "I didn't believe it, I just… maybe considered it as not being complete bullshit. He made some really good points, okay?"

"Yeah?" Holster laughs, loudly. "Like what?"

"Ugh, it doesn't matter," Ransom says, exasperated. "The world's not ending, so everything is fine."

"Yeah, duh," Holster says, gently bumping his shoulder back into Ransom's.

Holster laughs, loud and, honestly, a little obnoxious, and Ransom loves him. Ransom is in love with him. And it doesn't even matter that the world didn't end today, Ransom still wants Holster to know.

There's a chance they could be really happy together. Ransom will do anything for that chance.

"So, what did Johnson want you to do?" Holster asks. "You know, if the world ended?"

"He, uh," Ransom starts. His heart is thumping in his chest, so hard he can't believe Holster can't hear it. "He wanted me to, uh, confess my feelings... to, uh, the person I love."

"Oh," says Holster, quietly, his mood instantly sober. Holster's always been an open book, Ransom can read him better than he can understand himself, but he can't think clearly enough to decipher the look that's currently on Holster's face. "I, uh, didn't know you liked anyone."

"Yeah," says Ransom. "I have for a while, longer, I think, than I even realise. I probably should've told them months ago, but I've been... scared"

"What are you scared of?" Holster asks, eyebrows furrowed together. "You don't think they like you back?"

The thought of Holster not wanting him back feels like a sword straight through Ransom's heart and he almost loses his nerve and backs out of this thing entirely.

He keeps going.

"That's definitely a possibility," Ransom says. "And that would really suck. But that's not what I'm really afraid of."

"What are you afraid of, Rans?" asks Holster, quietly.

"I... am... afraid..." Ransom starts. His hands are shaking and he grasps at his forearms to make them stop. "That... I will fuck this up, and I will lose him." Ransom shakes his head. "He is the best thing that's ever happened to me, Holster. I can't lose him."

A million emotions flash across Holster's face. Ransom's heart races. It's not exactly what he wanted to say, but from the look that eventually settled in Holster's eyes, he thinks Holster may have heard him anyway.

"Well," Holster says, taking a step forward. His voice low and breathy, like he's finding it as hard to breathe as Ransom is. "If he means as much to you as I hope he does, then... I don't think you're in any danger of losing him, Justin."

"Holster," Ransom says. Holster looks up at him, blue eyes wide and pleading and hopeful and so, so beautiful behind his glasses. "Adam."

"Justin," Holster murmurs.

Holster's face is so close to Ransom's.

"I can't lose you, Holtzy," Ransom whispers.

"You won't," says Holster, so fucking earnestly that Ransom can't do anything but believe him. "I'm with you until the end, Rans. No matter what."

"I think I've been in love with you since the day I met you," Ransom breathes.

"Really?" Holster asks. He's smiling. Ransom nods. "I've been in love with you too."

Ransom's not really sure who leans in first, but from the way he's stretched up towards Holster, he thinks it may have been him.

It's nothing like the drunk kiss they shared in their freshmen year. It's nothing like any kiss Ransom has ever had before. It's like everything in Ransom's life is finally clicking into place, like Holster's the only thing that's ever mattered. Ransom can't believe how long he's been denying himself this. Ransom let's go of his own forearms to put his hands on Holster, one in his hair and one against his back, feeling the warmth of his skin seep into Ransom's core.

Holster pulls back first, pressing one last gentle peck against Ransom's lips before resting their foreheads together. Ransom drops his hand from Holster's head, and Holster immediately catches it in one of his, tangling their fingers together. It's not the first time they've held hands, not by a long shot, but it's never been like this.

"I never thought you'd ever like me back," says Holster, quietly. "I've loved you forever, Justin."

"I didn't want to rush into it," Ransom whispers. "I've never felt like this about anyone before. I didn't want to mess it up."

"You won't," says Holster. "We won't."

Overwhelmed, Ransom ducks his head to kiss Holster again. Holster smiles into the kiss, and Ransom has never loved him, or his giant teeth, more.

Ransom's glad his story isn't ending today. He doesn't ever want to let this go.

**Author's Note:**

> So as Johnson said, I started writing this fic three years ago. I could never really get it to work out the way I wanted it to. This week, with the pressure of the Check Please finale upon me, I worked it out my problem:
> 
> I was trying to write about Nursey and Dex, and this story belongs to Ransom and Holster.


End file.
